The present invention broadly relates to ammunition for training practice and, more specifically, pertains to a short-range projectile or shell containing means for producing the short range of the projectile or shell during travel of the projectile or shell along its flight path.
A short-range projectile known to the art and disclosed, for example, in Swiss Patent No. 532,240, published Feb. 15, 1973, which is cognate with U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,533, granted Jul. 24, 1973 and European Published Patent Application No. 0,036,232, published Sept. 23, 1981, comprises a projectile body and a projectile nose or tip which separates or is released during flight of the short-range projectile. A portion of the projectile nose or tip is made of heat-sensitive material which melts under the action of air resistance or drag in the airstream.
In another known short-range projectile containing means to destabilize the short-range projectile at the end of a first flight phase and disclosed, for example, in Swiss Patent No. 667,723, published Oct. 31, 1988, a destabilization body is mounted at the base or bottom of the short-range projectile. This destabilization body extends into a no-airstream space or dead-water zone at the rear or tail end of the short-range projectile and initiates destabilization as soon as the destabilization body projects out of the diminishing no-airstream space or dead-water zone.
The use of melting material has the disadvantage that the short-range projectile in summer at relatively high temperatures describes a different portion of the trajectory thereof than in winter at relatively low temperatures. The mounting of a destabilization body likewise does not render possible an accurate shortnning of the flight path in accordance with existing range limitation requirements.